US Airways to Begin New York-San Juan Service
- Thread starter LavMan
- Start date
The longer you fly an airplane the more money it makes, an RJ on a % basis cost more to operate then a mainline plane, and one flight a week is not gonna add to the bottom line when AA and Jetblue fly multiple flights a day from an airport 30 minutes away.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030717/dcth017_1.html
Talk about jumping into the fire. True...this service is N/S from LGA rather than JFK and is more convenient to the city, but with 2 low fare carriers with a major presence on this route and a major that seems willing to defend it at any cost, is this really the right thing to do?
Talk about jumping into the fire. True...this service is N/S from LGA rather than JFK and is more convenient to the city, but with 2 low fare carriers with a major presence on this route and a major that seems willing to defend it at any cost, is this really the right thing to do?
If the mainline city that will be closing will allow US to increase stage lengths for routes such as LGA-SJU, go for it. US needs to get out of this short hop, northeast market with the larger jets. Switch them over to RJs and let the bigger planes fly further to help bring the costs down. IOW, time to revert back to the US or should I say Allegheny of old - small jets on short hops. Sure it is going to mean some 15-20+ year employees throw bags or ripping tickets for a couple mainline flights a day are going to have to be let go, but let''s be honest...if the company stuck with the business plan of the last 10 years they might have well just Chapter 7''nd the whole thing and moved on. Instead, it looks like the company actually has a plan for how they want to proceed and they are executing it.
Of course RJs cost more, they have fewer seats. However, US Airways is finally going to match capacity with demand which will hopefully allow them to retain some decent yeilds. Flying mainline jets on extremely short hops isn''t going to make the company any money. This isn''t Southwest...and it never will be like Southwest. So the next best thing is to rationalize the airline. Get the short hop flying moved over to the RJs and move the bigger jets back to medium to long range flying.
Sure LGA-SJU may not rack in tons of cash since it is only one flight a week, but if it is profitable then it does add to the bottom line - every penny counts. So if they can pull the planes out of cities that are costing the company millions a month in turn to make a couple hundred thousand on another route, why not?
Sure LGA-SJU may not rack in tons of cash since it is only one flight a week, but if it is profitable then it does add to the bottom line - every penny counts. So if they can pull the planes out of cities that are costing the company millions a month in turn to make a couple hundred thousand on another route, why not?
MarkMyWords
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LavMan -
What you have to realize to is that the lowest fare from LGA-SJU is 498.00 round trip. Compare that to LGA-BUF at 268.00, LGA-RDU at 300.00, LGA-PIT at 248.00 and the Shuttle weekend fare of 170.00. There is a lot of money to be made in the islands, and they are not destinations that you can drive to versus most of the short hops. Think about your last airport experience. The time it takes to check-in, check a bag, go through screening, get to the gate, board, deplane, get to baggage claim, get your bag, get your rental car, etc. If you had a choice of driving 300 miles or flying, which would you choose? Especially if it took you just as long either way, but driving was less hassle. That is why we need to pull away from the short haul flying and get into more long haul flying. BOS service started out as Sat only and will be going to daily service, if the market is there for LGA-SJU service you can look for it to go daily some day too.
What you have to realize to is that the lowest fare from LGA-SJU is 498.00 round trip. Compare that to LGA-BUF at 268.00, LGA-RDU at 300.00, LGA-PIT at 248.00 and the Shuttle weekend fare of 170.00. There is a lot of money to be made in the islands, and they are not destinations that you can drive to versus most of the short hops. Think about your last airport experience. The time it takes to check-in, check a bag, go through screening, get to the gate, board, deplane, get to baggage claim, get your bag, get your rental car, etc. If you had a choice of driving 300 miles or flying, which would you choose? Especially if it took you just as long either way, but driving was less hassle. That is why we need to pull away from the short haul flying and get into more long haul flying. BOS service started out as Sat only and will be going to daily service, if the market is there for LGA-SJU service you can look for it to go daily some day too.
MarkMyWords
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And if we can get the 498.00 and fill the airplane, where is the problem?
ITRADE
Veteran
Ahem, ahem. To all those that were giving me grief and all sorts of crap when I suggested that it would be a good idea for US to begin service from LGA to SJU...
BITE ME!
Thank you very much.
BITE ME!
Thank you very much.
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On 7/17/2003 12:39:54 PM N628AU wrote:
On 7/17/2003 12:39:54 PM N628AU wrote:
JetBlue and who else is a LCC on this route?
This is a good move. More longhaul.
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This is a good move. More longhaul.
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Spirit from LGA (not N/S but still a chunk of the pie). Longhaul is good but not when you''re pitting a HCC (High Cost Carrier) against LLCs already established and with a marketing presence in the O&D. Not to mention entering into direct competetion with the largest of all carriers that has proven time and time again that it cherishes it''s niches (SJU and NYC being 2 of them) and will do all that it can legally get away with (and then some) to keep the odds in its favor.
And with one flight a week, it makes it the easiest of targets for competitors interested in keeping new entrants out of the market. The existing carriers only have to spoil their yields on one day, on flight and US is going to have to compete with the loss-leader fares. Bad move.
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On 7/17/2003 8:07:54 AM Ch. 12 wrote:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030717/dcth017_1.html
Talk about jumping into the fire. True...this service is N/S from LGA rather than JFK and is more convenient to the city, but with 2 low fare carriers with a major presence on this route and a major that seems willing to defend it at any cost, is this really the right thing to do?
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On 7/17/2003 8:07:54 AM Ch. 12 wrote:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030717/dcth017_1.html
Talk about jumping into the fire. True...this service is N/S from LGA rather than JFK and is more convenient to the city, but with 2 low fare carriers with a major presence on this route and a major that seems willing to defend it at any cost, is this really the right thing to do?
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JetBlue and who else is a LCC on this route?
This is a good move. More longhaul.
Lavman,
Please see my previous postings in other threads regarding falling into the trap of "the RJ costs more to fly". While it is technically true, it does not work in reality.
ITRADE
Veteran
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On 7/17/2003 1:29:13 PM Ch. 12 wrote:
Spirit from LGA (not N/S but still a chunk of the pie). Longhaul is good but not when you''re pitting a HCC (High Cost Carrier) against LLCs already established and with a marketing presence in the O&D. Not to mention entering into direct competetion with the largest of all carriers that has proven time and time again that it cherishes it''s niches (SJU and NYC being 2 of them) and will do all that it can legally get away with (and then some) to keep the odds in its favor.
And with one flight a week, it makes it the easiest of targets for competitors interested in keeping new entrants out of the market. The existing carriers only have to spoil their yields on one day, on flight and US is going to have to compete with the loss-leader fares. Bad move.
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Allow me to disagree. Good move.On 7/17/2003 1:29:13 PM Ch. 12 wrote:
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On 7/17/2003 12:39:54 PM N628AU wrote:
On 7/17/2003 12:39:54 PM N628AU wrote:
JetBlue and who else is a LCC on this route?
This is a good move. More longhaul.
----------------
This is a good move. More longhaul.
----------------
Spirit from LGA (not N/S but still a chunk of the pie). Longhaul is good but not when you''re pitting a HCC (High Cost Carrier) against LLCs already established and with a marketing presence in the O&D. Not to mention entering into direct competetion with the largest of all carriers that has proven time and time again that it cherishes it''s niches (SJU and NYC being 2 of them) and will do all that it can legally get away with (and then some) to keep the odds in its favor.
And with one flight a week, it makes it the easiest of targets for competitors interested in keeping new entrants out of the market. The existing carriers only have to spoil their yields on one day, on flight and US is going to have to compete with the loss-leader fares. Bad move.
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The fact that the fare is once a week means that US is not attempting to fully compete and steal business away. The flight is a leisure flight with prices set where US will set them. The flight is also based upon the convenience factor of departing from LGA instead of JFK.
For those passengers that are US FFs, want to stay with US, but were pursuaded by the fact that AA and JB had non-stoppers out of JFK, this direct appeals to them.
This was a smart move.
